Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after
Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to
care for the children, Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice, make it clear to the authorities
that his is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts
decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.

Although a sympathetic judge assures Desmond that when his financial situation
reverses, he will be able to get his children back; money is hard to come by.
During that time, Evelyn and her brothers suffer the abuses of living in
orphanages while Desmond struggles to secure finances.